Hating Humanity 1: To Find The Lost Ones
by Higuchimon
Summary: [au: timeline divergence: 15/15] Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 1: 1,101|| **story:** 1,101  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

 _I wish I'd brought Mizael along._ Durbe tried his best not to look as if he disliked everything around him, but it was all so _different_ from his own world. For untold years, he'd had the company only of a few people, his fellow Emperors and the lesser Barians who they ruled over. Those lesser Barians seldom actually interacted with their leaders, however, and the Emperors remained accustomed to only associating with one another.

But here in this world, this Earth, there didn't seem to be any separation like that at all. Everyone mixed with everyone, and there were so many more _everyone_ than he'd ever imagined there being. Barian World had at least a few thousand or so people in it, but they never congregated like this at all.

He'd spent days in this world already, darting here and there in his attempt to find Nasch and Merag. So far, he hadn't had a single drop of luck.

At least if he'd brought Mizael along, he would've had someone that he could talk to. All he had here were humans, humans everywhere, and none of them gave him so much as a glance. Which he didn't _object_ to; he needed to adjust to being here so he could blend in, and if they tried to talk to him now, then he'd probably say or do something that would show he was _very much_ not from around there.

 _I don't think they execute you for being different here, though._ He'd seen enough people who didn't fit in to the local standards to gather that much.

Still, getting used to all of this took time, and the more he considered the matter, the more he decided leaving Mizael in Barian World was probably the wiser choice after all. Mizael had opinions of his own, and while Durbe shared them to an extent, Mizael was much more likely to start throwing around bolts of power if humans pressed in too closely around him.

Not to mention what Mizael would probably do if humans ended up thinking he was _attractive_. By Barian standards, Mizael was most certainly a prize, so it was likely enough he would be so even by human standards. Durbe had seen what humans could do to those they found beautiful and Mizael would not have been pleased at all.

Anyway, someone needed to keep an eye on Vector. He'd been up to things recently and while Durbe wasn't certain of all the details, he thought Mizael could handle anything Vector tried.

He wandered his way through the crowds, almost invisible in his human garb, and wondered if he were doing the right thing. Nasch and Merag had to be somewhere. But here, in the human world? Why would they be here and what would they be doing if they were?

 _We've looked everywhere in our world that we could and they're still not there. They wouldn't be in Astral World. We'd know._ The Astral World would've sent some kind of message, demanding their surrender in exchange for the return of their overlord and his sister. But there hadn't been anything from them at all.

So Earth remained their best chance, so far as Durbe could guess. He still couldn't figure out why or how or why they wouldn't return to Barian World if they'd somehow arrived on Earth without warning, but perhaps he could ask once he found them. And he _would_ find them, without a doubt at all.

 _If it weren't for those little signals, I might not have even bothered._ He'd almost missed them entirely when they'd happened. Tiny little sparks, nothing more than the vaguest drips of energy that didn't belong to Earth at all, but he'd caught them anyway. They weren't Astral World related, which by default meant they had to be related to the Barian World.

And those little sparks, scattered as they were, could very well be Nasch or Merag. Preferably Nasch _and_ Merag, but Durbe didn't want to hold onto too much hope, not after all this time.

So he'd made his way to Earth, which he hadn't expected to do for some time to come, if ever at all, and began to figure out how matters worked there. Seeing himself in a mirror had been more than a little unnerving. He wasn't the tallest Barian by any means, but he looked so _different_. So soft. Not a warrior of stone and strength, but a creature that looked as if he could be broken by little more than a harsh word.

 _I wonder if humans wear armor when they go into battle._ The idea both intrigued and amused him and he decided when he had some free time, he'd look into it, just to see. It made sense, if they were all this soft.

He hadn't been able yet to track down those sparks, though he'd narrowed them to this city, called Heartland, or so he'd picked up from listening to the humans talk among themselves. This place was a hub of duelists, though none of them seemed as fierce or as powerful as the least of the Barians.

That didn't surprise him either. Barians were renowned for their skill in duel combat, and he'd seen for himself that duels here were for amusement and entertainment, not fighting amongst one another.

Humans confused him. But he kept on looking, no matter w hat, because where there were duels, there could very well be Nasch and Merag. Perhaps they weren't dueling; perhaps they were watching, but there was always the chance that they would be there.

So when he heard of a tournament that would be held, Durbe decided that this was just as good a place to go check out as any of the others that he had. He'd wandered by schools to see what their pick-up duels were like, and not been impressed at all. He'd checked out a few of the pro tournaments, and while they were somewhat better, he still hadn't met anyone that even slightly reminded him of Nasch or Merag.

He wouldn't say that this duel called to him, but he was tired and he wanted to enjoy himself just a little bit before he threw in the proverbial towel, as he'd heard humans say, and went back to Barian World to rest. Supposedly there were two favorites for the finals, and the glimpse he got of their posters was at least interesting.

A duel between someone called 'IV' and someone called 'Shark'. He hoped it lived up to the hype the humans were throwing around for it.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 2: 1,031|| **story:** 2,132  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Acquiring a ticket and making certain it was for a seat that would give him a very good view was practically child's play for Durbe. He didn't actually completely control anyone to do it; that would've been yet another thing that could cause him unwanted issues. But a gentle smile and a few words on how he much he wanted to see this made a large difference. From previous experience, he suspected the fact he'd arrived early on before the great rush of spectators had something to do with the clerk being in a more giving mood.

Regardless, he settled himself into the proper seat, and prepared to while away a few hours watching humans with very weak duels. It gave him a chance to see if there was any hidden talent around here, he told himself, as well as anyone that the Barians should watch out for. The Astral Messenger could appear at any time, and it was quite likely that said Messenger would come to a duelist. Therefore, watching duels wouldn't just give him a chance to find Nasch and Merag, but their manifest enemy as well.

The first few rounds weren't all that exciting. Durbe kept himself entertained only by imagining how much more violent such duels would be in Barian World, and how much more interesting at the same time. How some of these duelists even made it to the finals baffled him.

Images of the duelists flashed up on screens before each duel, along with their best cards and win-loss record. Durbe could only see one of them from where he sat; if all of the other spectators had remained quietly in their seats that wouldn't have been true, but they all seemed motivated to jump around, shout at the top of their lungs, wave their arms around, and in general act like _humans_.

The one whose image that he could see was a young man with hair of both red and gold and a hint of a smirk that Durbe thought would've looked well on a Barian's face, if Barians had mouths to begin with. The information there said that he was 'IV'; that was likely enough not his real name, since Durbe's research told him that most humans carried at least a family name and a personal name, and 'IV' wasn't likely to be either one.

Even if he couldn't see the information for the opposing duelist, Durbe knew his name anyway, from the way that the crowds shouted, and he would be able to see the duelists once they came out to fight. Durbe toyed with the name of 'Shark' in his mind. Another stage name, it seemed, but at least this one didn't keep his real name a secret: Kamishiro Ryouga.

It didn't take much longer for the two duelists to step out to where they could be seen. IV waved cheerfully to everyone, promising to sign autographs afterward no matter how the duel came out. Shark, on the other hand, just stood there, arms over his chest, glaring right at IV.

More glowed in that look than just one duelist against another, especially in this world. Durbe inched forward, fascinated by the amount of anger that flowed out of Shark. It was almost a palpable thing, to the point Durbe found himself surprised that the ground itself didn't shatter when Shark stepped forward.

The rage reminded him of Nasch, in all honesty. Durbe frowned a fraction; his view of Shark still wasn't as good as he would've liked, but that was more the fault of the sun than the spectators now. It rose up in just the right position to make looking at Shark more than a little difficult.

He would get a look when it was over, Durbe promised himself. The duel began a few moments later, a few quick exchanges that were really nothing more than the beginning circling of two fierce warriors.

Durbe found his sympathies lay entirely with Shark here. That fury, so reminiscent of Nasch, did not fade as the duel continued.

Then, just as Shark was about to draw a card, alarms sounded and a voice crackled out over the speakers.

"Duelist Kamishiro Ryouga is hereby disqualified from this match and an inquiry will be held to determine his status in future professional duels."

Shark froze where he stood. Durbe didn't feel much like moving himself. The voice continued.

"It has been discovered, upon reviewing security footage, that duelist Kamishiro Ryouga attempted to tamper with his opponent's deck prior to this match."

Whispers raced all through the crowd, and many quickly rose into a single word spoken by dozens, if not hundreds, of voices.

"Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!"

Shark shook his head, but no one seemed to notice or care if they did. Durbe stayed where he was, considering what he'd heard. He didn't know what to think of it. He needed more information, and he wanted to _get_ that information.

He wanted it even more when he finally got a good look at Shark, as the sun slipped out of where it blinded him.

Shark didn't look exactly like Nasch. No rocky skin of purple hue, no proud golden crown on his head. But the way he held his head even as people shouted and yelled at him, accusing him of the most horrible crime a duelist could commit, the anger that still spread from him, focused on IV, and something in the shape of his hair as well, a style that Durbe hadn't ever seen anyone else wear…

He didn't know for certain. There was no sign of Merag, and she would be by her brother no matter what. Durbe decided that he needed to know _so much more_ before he made up his mind and approached.

But if this really was Nasch, somehow, then what was he doing here? How had he gotten here? This deck wasn't the one that Durbe knew that he played, but that wasn't surprising in and of itself. That deck remained in the castle, sealed in Nasch's own rooms, awaiting his return.

And if this was Nasch, then Durbe needed to bring him home, as soon as possible.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 3: 1,183|| **story:** 3,315  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon. Also, my interpretation of Rio's injuries may not be completely in line with canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Research in the Barian World did involve libraries. Durbe took care of the one in the palace, though it didn't always have the information that one wanted. It mostly consisted of information about the Barian World itself, which came in handy on various occasions. Being as long-lived as they were didn't mean that they remembered everything they needed to when they needed to remember it.

Research in the world of humans also involved libraries and learning how to use their computers. That wasn't very difficult; Durbe had already learned how to use a D-Gazer. He didn't _need_ it by any means, but watching a duel without one would've raised those questions he was making certain to avoid raising.

So he slid into the nearest library and did a simple search for all the information he could find on Kamishiro Ryouga. Given that he'd been in multiple tournaments before this one, digging up what he wanted to know wasn't all that difficult.

Finding a reason for Merag not to be there was even easier, and Durbe ground his teeth as he read through the article describing the horrible accident that had nearly taken the life of Kamishiro Rio, Ryouga's twin sister. If this was Merag… the idea of his queen being hurt by _humans_ sent fire and rage coursing through him.

There weren't enough details in the article; apparently no one knew how the fire had started, and the identity of the person who'd saved her from it was being kept secret by their own request.

More research proved to uncover very little out of the ordinary about the Kamishiros. One small article he dug out from several years earlier mentioned that their parents had died in a car wreck, one that had almost claimed the lives of the twins as well. Durbe frowned at the date, trying to figure out how long ago that would've been by Barian standards. Time wasn't precisely different in the two worlds, but they didn't use the same calendar and no one had ever bothered to create a converter for it.

But when he'd figured it out, his fingers clutched into fists for a heartbeat. _That was right around the time that Nasch and Merag vanished._ Coincidence? Perhaps. But Durbe wasn't ready to write it off just yet.

He'd learned about as much as he could from human records, he decided. Next he would have to talk to Kamishiro Ryouga himself. Perhaps even Kamishiro Rio.

Her first. Ryouga hadn't looked as if he'd be willing to talk to anyone just yet, and if she were in a hospital, she'd likely welcome visitors of any kind.

 _They don't remember. If they are Nasch and Merag, then they don't remember_ _ **being**_ _Nasch and Merag. Nasch would have burned the city down to avenge a slight to Merag._ Since the city remained unburned, that pointed to two options: either they weren't the people he knew or they didn't remember that they were. He began to prefer the latter. After all this time, to have even a smidgen of success was better than nothing at all.

* * *

Rio hated having to be in the hospital. She knew that she'd been hurt. She knew _why_ she had to stay in here, but she didn't like it. There was hardly a thing to do aside from sleep or watch television and she didn't like most of what was available right now.

She wanted to see how her brother was doing in his tournament. She'd hoped to take part in it herself, but being cooped up in here made that impossible.

With a long sigh, she tilted her head back as best that she could and stared up at the ceiling through the bandages. All the doctors told her that she'd heal up reasonably well and would be ready to leave the hospital in another few months. They didn't want to rush things, they said. They wanted to make certain everything healed up right.

What she heard was that she'd be trapped here for months more, even when she would be able to get up and move around.

"Kamishiro-san?" She didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't one of her nurses or doctors and it definitely wasn't Ryouga. One of his friends?

No, he didn't have friends. He'd pulled away from the few he had after what happened with her. She kept wanting to smack him because of that, but as much as she disliked it, she didn't have the strength yet.

"Yes?" She tried to look toward the door, but even doing so, she couldn't see much more than a vague shape standing there. "Who's there?" Her fingers flexed a little. She wanted to know that voice. She wanted to know any voice other than the small handful she remembered.

"May I come in?" Whoever it was hesitated for a moment. "I'd like to speak with you, if you don't mind."

Rio tilted her head a bit more. It didn't do anything to improve her sight, but it was better than just staying where she was. "Who are you?"

A moment of silence. "My name is Durbe." Did he sound nervous? She couldn't think of why. Who'd be nervous around her right now? Before, she could understand, and encouraged that. But now?

The name wasn't familiar, but she shrugged what little she could. "Go ahead. Is there something I can do for you?" She managed a small quirk of her lips. "I doubt it, though. I'm not really in a condition to do much of anything."

Durbe, little more than a moving shape through the bandages, moved closer to her and settled into the chair Ryouga spent a lot of his own visiting time in. "Would you like to tell me what happened? I've read the newspaper article, but I'd rather hear it from you."

Rio tilted her head the other way this time. "Why?" Was he a reporter? He sounded about her own age, but different in a way. As if he were _trying_ to sound her age, but wasn't all that good at pretending. "What do you really want?"

Durbe hesitated. She could hear it in his voice. But he did answer. "I honestly don't think you'd believe me if I told you. But mostly I just want to get to know you and your brother."

She tried to sit up, hissing at the sharp spikes of pain that shot through her as she did. "If you mean any harm to Ryouga at all -" She would get up from her bed and _end_ this person, no matter how much it hurt her as well.

But Durbe shook his head. "No. I don't want to hurt you. I might even be able to help you. But I need to know… to know who you are, first."

Rio let herself slide back down. She could hear truth in his voice. She'd always been able to tell the difference between truth and lies when someone spoke to her. She didn't know what he meant by it, but she knew he wasn't lying.

"All right. Let's talk."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 4: 1,054|| **story:** 4,369  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Talking to Durbe wasn't like talking to anyone else that Rio could think of. The way that he chose his words, as if he had something he was skating around actually mentioning, intrigued her. Even for someone she'd just met, he was mysterious. She wanted to know more, to know where he'd come from and why he'd decided to talk to her.

She did like the company, though. Ryouga wouldn't be back for a while yet and the nurses were too busy to sit and chat when they came to check on her. Those times someone came in while Durbe was there, none of them said anything to him at all. She might have thought he was a figment of her imagination if she couldn't hear him and see him moving vaguely through the bandages.

"Do you know how long it will take you to heal?" Durbe asked after the evening shift nurse left.

"They don't know for sure. Probably another few months." Rio let out a long sigh. She'd heard them whispering things, never to the point where she could actually understand what they said, but it was more a case of them being surprised than her being in danger of dying and they didn't want her to know. "I'd really like to go home." She could hear the longing in her voice and didn't care. It was true. She hated just sitting here.

"I know how you feel," Durbe said, and his hand rested on the side of the bed. "I'd like to go home too, but I'm looking for some people and I'd rather not go back without them."

She angled her head toward him a little. "What happened?" A thousand answers to her question sprang up in her mind; they were friends or siblings, and they'd run away, so he was looking for them. Their parents probably wanted him to bring them back too. Or their parents didn't know and Durbe wanted to get them home before they were found out.

"I'm not really sure," he said, a scenario she hadn't imagined. "They vanished without warning one day. Neither one of them is the type to do that. All of us have searched for them since, but there's been no sign of them at all."

For a few more seconds he said nothing at all. "I didn't really think they'd be around here. It's not the kind of place I think they would want to go to. But I came here anyway, just to see." A long hope, and he'd followed it anyway. Rio wished she had friends like that. None of the people she knew had that kind of commitment to anyone. They said they did, but she'd never believed it.

Durbe did. For all that she'd spoken to him for a handful of hours, she knew that everything he'd said was true. Perhaps he wasn't telling her everything; she could feel shades of meaning in what he said. But he hadn't lied. She remained certain of that.

"Did you find them yet?" From the way he'd cast his words, she couldn't be sure.

"I might have. But so far, they haven't recognized me." He laughed briefly. "Though I've only talked to one of them."

Something hung in the air with those words, something that Rio could feel herself, her understanding, reaching for, but not entirely grasping. She wanted to. It was _important_. But she couldn't get her grip on it. Whatever it was, it slid away from her, with a tiny sense of horror buried in the deepest part of her mind. No, not just her mind. Her heart. Her soul. Fear flickered at his words, but not fear of him, not at all.

There would be those who feared Durbe. She could feel that on some level he should be feared. But she wasn't one of those. His strength, his power, whatever it was, it wouldn't be turned against her or Ryouga. That alone mattered to her.

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillows. "What happened when you did?"

"Not much. Like I said, they didn't recognize me. I can't guess what happened to them to make them forget." A strange tone entered his voice now. "I wouldn't have thought that he would. We were very close for a long time."

Dating wasn't completely unknown to Rio. She'd never bothered with doing so before, but she knew that people dated and she'd somewhat assumed that one day she would as well, if she found anyone who intrigued her enough to try. But the way Durbe spoke, she thought it was more than just dating involved. Something so much more that she couldn't even wrap her mind around it in its entirety.

And another part of her _understood_. She did not know the one of who he spoke, but she could understand what he meant by 'very close' and it wasn't friends or best friends or dating or lovers. It was all of those and more, wrapped up in a package that stretched ahead and behind and all around.

"They'll remember you," she promised. She wanted them to remember Durbe, to take that sadness away from him. So barely known, and she still wanted him to not be sad at all.

He fitted into her life, she thought, in a way that she'd not realized until he'd been there. The slot that was him niched right next to the slot that was Ryouga. But the fit wasn't completely right, not yet, as if the pieces needed a few more shards shaved off to click together in the absolute right ways.

"I hope that they do. I miss them." He pulled his hands up and stood. "I should go." He did not sound as if he wanted to.

She turned back toward him again. "Will you come back?" She wanted to find out if he found the people he cared about, if they remembered him, if they returned to their home. She wanted to know how all of this came out. More than that, she thought she _needed_ to know. Talking to him had done her more good than almost anything else that happened to her here.

His answer came almost at once, and she could hear the smile in it when he spoke. "I will."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 5: 1,110|| **story:** 5,479  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Durbe came back to visit her at least once a day over the next few days. Rio appreciated it; Ryouga came a time or two but didn't stay long. Something was wrong with him that he refused to talk about and she was about ready to get up out of the bed and smack him until he opened his jaws. Normally he would tell her anything and everything, even things she didn't want to know, but now he kept something to himself and it didn't take her long at all to figure out that she didn't like it when he did. Not one little bit.

"You should stay and meet Ryouga," she told Durbe during one of his visits. "I think you two would get along." She really did and maybe if there was someone else asking, Ryouga would finally let her know what the problem was.

She wanted Ryouga to have friends, no matter how much he avoided the whole concept, but she wasn't averse to using those friends to find out something that she wanted to know.

"I want to," Durbe said, his voice quiet and sure. "There are things I'd like to ask him."

Rio knew that she wasn't putting all the connections together that she should, but she'd figured out before Durbe's third visit that he thought they were the friends he was looking for. It wasn't that hard. He seldom talked about visiting anyone else, and the way he spoke about them? It clicked together. But she hadn't told him yet. She kind of wanted him to tell her himself, especially since she couldn't be certain if they _were_ the people that he knew.

She couldn't imagine how they could be, because she didn't remember Durbe, but the idea of telling him that they weren't froze on her lips. It made no sense and Rio _liked_ things that made sense.

"So go ahead and ask." That very familiar voice from the door. Both Rio and Durbe looked up – or to be honest, Durbe looked and Rio moved her head in that direction. She could recognize Ryouga's form, though his expression was still muted to her. "But I think I'll start with asking a couple. Like, who are you and what are you doing in here?"

Durbe rose to his feet, the image of grace, and Rio thought he bent his head. "Kamishiro Ryouga. It's an honor." And again, his voice rang with absolute truth. He genuinely meant that with all of his heart.

"That doesn't tell me who you are, and you'd better get on that." Something was _really_ bothering Ryouga. He wasn't normally this much of a pain, even after what happened to her.

"My name is Durbe. I'm searching for two friends of mine," Durbe said. He moved one hand toward Rio and then to Ryouga. "I believe that you two may be those friends, even if you don't remember me."

Rio shifted some, a faint prickle of unease whispering through her. "Durbe..."

He shook his head at her, most of his attention still on Ryouga. "I know how that must sound -"

"No, I don't think you do." Ryouga hadn't moved from the door and a faint hint of movement told Rio that he'd probably crossed his arms over his chest. "Get out and don't come back. We don't need someone like you around here."

Durbe didn't move. "Do the names Nasch or Merag mean anything to you?"

Rio tensed when the word 'Merag' was spoken. It sent a tingle through her that she couldn't remember ever having felt before. It wasn't her – and yet if someone had called it out, she might've looked up, just a little.

She couldn't tell how her brother reacted; he was too far from her with her eyes still bandaged. But he hadn't moved still.

"Should they?"

Durbe still hadn't moved. "Those are the names of my friends. The people that I've been looking for."

"Never heard of them." Ryouga started to come farther into the room. "I want you gone. I don't want to see you here again."

There was nothing but silence for a few moments until Durbe broke it. "I heard the verdict came in today. Banned for life from all professional tournaments."

" _What?_ " Rio wriggled her way up, staring at her brother even through her bandages. "What happened? Ryouga, talk to me!" He didn't need to; what had been said was plain as day, and she wanted to destroy whoever had set her brother up for whatever the offense had been.

Never for a moment did she think that he'd actually done whatever it was. It wasn't in his nature. She didn't care what it was. She knew him too well for that.

"I was accused of attempting to tamper with IV's deck." Ryouga bit off the words with cold fury. "The security cameras just showed me looking toward it. I didn't even touch it. But the verdict went through anyway."

Durbe's voice whispered through, calm and understanding. "They do you a disservice. You should never have even been accused of anything. You are not the sort of person who would do that."

His words sank into Rio like a balm against pain and anger. Ryouga's shoulders remained tense but he didn't repeat his insistence that Durbe leave. Instead he looked toward the other.

"How do you know? What does it matter to you? Just because you think I'm your 'friend'?"

Durbe shook his head. "No. Because you're _not_ that kind of person. Just from what I know of you from speaking to your sister, I know that." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "They've already begun to turn on you, haven't they? All the ones who called themselves your fans."

Again Ryouga grew tighter and more remote. Rio saw the answer in that alone. If she hadn't known him so well she couldn't have told at all, but she did and she could.

 _E-mails, all kinds of messages, probably calling him every name under the sun,_ she seethed to herself. _All those offers of sponsorship gone._ There had even been one or two tentative offers of a scholarship to various high level high schools. Those would be gone now too.

Everything that Ryouga had fought for since he'd begun to duel professionally, gone.

"I don't know if I can help you get that back," Durbe said, his voice ever so quiet and compassionate. "But I can give you something better. I can give you an entirely new world. A world that I think has been waiting for you to come back to it for years." Again, a pause, one very significant. "Nasch."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 6: 1,049|| **story:** 6,528  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Shark wasn't sure what to think of this 'Durbe' person. He'd known the guy was coming to see Rio; the nurses had told him after that first visit, wanting to know if they were related. No one seemed to quite understand why they let him in, only that it was a perfectly reasonable reason and they weren't really worried about him causing any harm. They just wanted to know how he was connected to them.

Shark couldn't tell them. He'd wanted them to keep the guy out, but that just didn't seem to happen. He was just _strange_ , talking about people he was looking for who were them? But he knew that neither he nor Rio had ever seen this guy before.

At least he didn't think he had. He couldn't remember him. But at the very back of his mind, the very faintest tingle whispered words he wasn't used to thinking when it came to other people.

Words such as _yes_ and _finally_ and _about time._

One thing he knew was that Durbe didn't mean to hurt them. If he had any idea of how weird he was, he'd probably even be embarrassed about it. But Durbe wasn't there to cause harm. He seemed to think he could genuinely help.

"My name isn't Nasch." He bent his best annoyed look on the other. He was grateful for one thing; he could think about Durbe and his weirdness instead of everything else that was going on. Instead of the aching bruise on his hip where someone had thrown a rock at him before he'd come into the hospital. Instead of the not very subtle jeers and mockery that had flown his way since the moment the duel had been interrupted.

Durbe reached inside of his jacket. Shark tensed, not liking this, but the other only pulled out something strange, but not deadly.

"I have an offer for you," Durbe said. His attention remained all on Shark now. "I couldn't even begin to explain everything that I need to for both of you, if you're Nasch and Merag. But I won't have to if you are."

Rio reached out one hand toward him to get his attention. Shark tried not to wince at the sight. "Durbe, you're not making any sense."

"I will be if you are who I believe you are," Durbe replied, which didn't make Shark any happier about all of this. "What I would like for both of you to do is touch this with me. If you're Nasch and Merag, then if there's any chance for your memories to spark, then they will. You'll know who you are and who I am."

Shark pressed his lips together, moving to stand closer to Rio. "What did you mean before, an entirely new world?"

"It would be new to you, only because you don't remember it now," Durbe said. From where Shark stood now, he could see what Durbe held in his hands. It was a pendant of some kind, carved into a strange shape, that whispered as much to the back of Shark's mind as Durbe's very existence did. "And if you are Nasch, we will welcome you home."

Shark tilted his head back, eyes narrowed. "And if I'm not?" After what he'd been going through since the tournament, it wouldn't surprise him in the slightest to have this unexpected offer of friendship and 'home' pulled away if he wasn't the one Durbe had apparently convinced himself that he was.

But Durbe shrugged. "Then we'll welcome you there anyway. I've watched you duel. We can always use great duelists."

Shark tensed even more. There was so much that he didn't know here, but at the moment, all he was being asked to do was touch a necklace. He was pretty certain already nothing would happen. It would get rid of Durbe – who would still withdraw his offer once there was ample evidence that they weren't his friends – and they could get back to the way things were supposed to be.

He glanced toward Rio, hating the way he couldn't see her eyes. He hadn't lost his thirst for revenge toward IV. The press might not know who had been involved with the fire, but _he_ did, and he hated the feeling of being a chained dog right now. Chained and muzzled, unable to bite the one who deserved it the most.

"If you are Nasch, then I and everyone else in Barian World will support you in whatever it is that you want to do." Durbe may not have meant to sound as tempting as he did, but he _did_ , and Shark wanted to at least get it over with.

"Let's try," Rio added her voice. "What can it hurt?" She had a point. At worst they'd stand there looking like idiots. And at best…

At best, Shark didn't even know.

Durbe stepped closer to the two of them, holding the pendant out. Rio set her fingers on it first, then Shark did. The moment he made contact, something swept through him, like a wave from the deepest sea, wrapping all around him. Power that he couldn't consciously remember having, but the moment it appeared, he knew that it was his, always would be, always had been.

"Nasch..." Durbe whispered the name and this time there were no protests. "Merag..." How could there be? They knew. They were.

But it wasn't enough. This was no more than the slightest crack in the wall of memories and both of them wanted more and reached to take what was theirs, what they'd lost and now reached to retrieve.

Light swirled around and above the pendant and the three hands holding onto it. Three hearts raced in tandem, and there didn't seem to be enough air in the room for all three of them.

Then the hospital walls around them faded away, replaced by a tumbled, broken landscape of every shade of red, high towers and thin spires, a castle great and tall. Rio's voice whispered through the air.

"What is that?"

Durbe could not have sounded prouder if he'd built it himself. "Our home. The castle of the Barians. Where we've lived for as long as we can remember."

And his words included them and they did not argue.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 7: 1,136|| **story:** 7,664  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon. **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Everything that had been bothering Shark up to that point didn't exactly cease to matter, but the more he looked at the castle, the less he genuinely cared about having been banned from dueling or losing scholarships and sponsorships. He still wanted his revenge on IV, but so far, he hadn't seen anything that would tell him he couldn't have it.

If anything, he began to think that Durbe would help him to get it.

"Let me show you the others," Durbe said, and everything rippled around them, to show strange creatures that looked more like humanoid rocks than anything else. Rio blinked, staring at them in confusion.

"Who are they?"

Durbe gestured and his own appearance melted to look much more like those new arrivals than anything else. His rock was a pale white, he no longer had a mouth, and gems glittered at strategic places on his body.

"We are the Barians. This is our true form." He tilted his head for a moment. "We can take on human form, but it isn't something we do very often. I don't even know what the others look like as humans." He gestured again, this time toward one of the Barians, a short one with reddish rock-skin. "This is Alit. He can be annoying but his loyalty is without question."

Another gesture indicated a taller Barian, with more obvious muscles even when covered in rock. "Alit's best friend, Gilag. The two of them spar together continually."

Indeed, that was just what they were doing, circling around one another, tossing friendly insults back and forth. Shark couldn't remember the last time he'd seen two people who were so truly close. He'd almost forgotten it could exist.

 _Not for me,_ he reminded himself sharply, _not ever for me._

Durbe glanced toward him and Shark found himself wondering if the other could read his thoughts somehow. He steeled himself just in case, but Durbe gave no indication whatsoever. Instead, he pointed out another Barian who had just entered the area.

"This is Mizael, my own best friend."

Mizael was tall and slender and elegant, sheathed in gold, and his hair hung far down his back in a glittering wave. He barely gave Alit and Gilag a look as he walked by on some errand of his own.

"Mizael loves dragons with his entire soul," Durbe said, a fond tilt to his head. "I think he cares for dragons more than he does anyone else in any world."

Shark had heard about duelists like that, who had a favorite type of monster and refused to think that any other could compare. He had a certain fondness for fish, real and holographic, himself, after all.

Now Durbe's voice turned a trifle more cautious. "This is Vector."

The one spoken of followed Mizael with his eyes as the other left the area, then turned more attention back to where Gilag and Alit still sparred with one another. Gray rock covered him, and unlike the others, a pair of wings decorated his back. He wiggled around some on the rock he sat on, one nearly as red as Alit, and kept on watching the other two, perhaps seeing them as personal entertainment.

"While he is loyal to our cause, Vector likes to make plans. Very complicated plans." Durbe shook his head. "Sometimes they get out of his control." There were stories behind those words that Shark thought he wanted to know. But not now.

"What is your cause?" Rio asked. Shark hadn't noticed it until now, but she appeared here as she had before the accident, completely healed and without any sign of an injury ever having happened.

Durbe's gaze fixated on the horizon. "There is a third world: the Astral World. For as long as any of us can remember, the Astral world has sought to destroy us. They will accept nothing less than our utter destruction. So far their greatest weapon, the Astral Messenger, hasn't appeared, but it could at any point. We are trying with all of our might to be ready to defend ourselves. That is one of the reasons we have searched for the two foo you since you vanished years ago. Being a complete team will make us stronger, strong enough to defeat them no amtter what."

Shark could not help but tense at that. Then Durbe caught his eye and even without a mouth, the other smiled. "I also wanted to find you because I missed you."

A warmth he couldn't remember feeling from anyone else ran through Shark at that. He would've normally looked away, said something cold and unfeeling, but now he let his eyes meet Durbe's. "I know you're telling the truth, but I can't _remember_ any of this. Not yet, anyway."

It was a strange feeling. He knew it was true but it wasn't part of his memories. And he wanted it to be. He wanted to know the things that hovered in the back of his mind. From the look on Rio's face, she wanted the same thing.

All three of them still had their hands on the pendant between them. Durbe looked down at it, and it began to glow a little more warmly.

"Nasch - you wore this from the first moment I saw you here in this world. I think you've always had it." Withe very word Durbe spoke, the pendant glowed with a greater light.

Shark stared at it himself, then nodded slowly. Something sluggish, out of practice, strong, but there, moved along his veins. "I want to know," he said, and he wasn't talking to Durbe. "I want to know about being Nasch."

"And I want to know bout being Merag," Rio added, her eyes glinting like sun striking the ocean. "I want to know who we are."

"And who we were."

The light from the pendant increased, enfolding around all three of them. With every breath he took, Shark could feel something in his mind peeling back, awakening memories that he hadn't even imagined could exist until now. They were scattered and disconnected, a wealth of information hung before him, ready for him to accept the moment that he was ready for it.

 _I am Nasch. I am the king of the Barians._ That much he could slowly fasten onto. It was a huge responsibility and one that made him wonder if he was ready for it, but whether he was or not, it was there, and he could not step away from it.

But he wasn't alone. He had Merag – Rio – Merag with him and he had Durbe and the others, as soon as they knew about him. Durbe's words rang true: they would support him, because he was one of them.

But he couldn't remember. And now it was time that he did.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh ZexalBR **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 8: 1,130|| **story:** 8,794  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

A flash of fire across a sky of blood-red.

Crystals rising from the scarlet-stained ground.

He could see through the crystal that wrapped all around him. He could feel strength coursing all through him, strength unlike any other that he'd felt before.

He didn't remember if he'd felt strength before. He simply knew that what he felt now was greater than any.

Around him, crystal shattered, and he fell forward, trembling from head to foot. He was born. He was new. He was a Barian. He was a Barian Emperor.

He was Nasch. He was the leader of the Barian Emperors. Whoever they were.

Nasch stumbled to his feet, fingers flexing. He stared down at them, realizing that he was made of stone. He could move easily enough, but he was rock given flesh, flesh wrapped in rock.

He was alone. He was not supposed to be alone. He moved along, a little unsteady at first, but growing more skilled and graceful as he practiced.

She lay in her crystal only a short distance away from him. He stared down at her, his mind still not as quick and agile as he knew that it could be, but speeding up as he adjusted himself to his new awareness.

Nasch rested a hand on the crystal. "Merag," he said, and he could not have said if he spoke with his voice or his mind. Perhaps it didn't matter. A pulse of energy flared from where he touched and within the crystal, Merag's eyes opened.

He could feel her awareness sharpening the moment their eyes met. She knew his name. She knew her own name. The crystal around her flexed in response to her will and shattered. None of the shards cut him, not even the ones that sliced toward him. Rock was harder than crystal, at least his rock was.

Slowly Merag worried her way out of the crystal and brushed the broken pieces off of herself. She looked at herself much as he had, then looked up toward him.

"Where are the others?" They knew there were more of them. They were not the only Barian Emperors, only the first. The leaders. One in particular lay close to their hearts, though neither could've put a name to that one. But they wanted to see him again.

Again? At all? Did it matter which?

"I don't know. But we'll find them." They were the Barians. They had to stick together, no matter what. Their world needed them. Their people needed them. Only by fighting together could they survive. This knowledge wove into them the same way the ability to walk and talk did, the same way that they came to know that dueling was their way of life, their hope for the future.

The same way they knew that their world was dying and the only way they could save it would be to defeat the Astral World, when the time came. It was what they knew. It was what was true.

The others came, in due course. And first among those was the one they had waited for, whom they knew was as close to them as they were to one another, if in different ways.

He was Durbe. They helped him out of the crystal he appeared in and the touch of his hand on Nasch sent thrills through the great Emperor like nothing else in all of his memories ever had. Each gazed into the other's eyes and while they could not remember if they had ever met before, they did not care.

It took time for others to arrive. In the time between Durbe and the next, Nasch and Durbe took the time to get to know one another. They trained in fighting, both in dueling and in fighting and in the use of their powers, sparring endlessly against one another. Every time held a different flavor to it, and they enjoyed it to the hilt. Merag sparred as well, her skills different but great in their own way.

Next came Vector. He appeared without any help to emerge from his crystal and his laugh echoed over the world as he lounged on a rock, kicking his heels up and watching as they circled one another, learning the things they needed to know.

He could fight too, but it quickly became clear that his greatest skills lay in other areas. There were no other factions or lands in Barian World; all lay peacefully under Nasch's reign, but had there been, it would've been Vector who watched them, keeping them under surveillance so the Barians remained safe.

One by one the others appeared, each slotting themselves where they belonged in the world and in their lives. Proud Mizael, who gleamed bright gold. Alit, as rich scarlet red as the rocks all around them, quick as a flash and with blood as hot as flame. Gilag, with a punch that could shatter stone and muscles that put their stone world to shame.

No one questioned that Nasch was their leader, not even Vector. Nasch did not quite understand why, but he felt if any of them would have questioned it, it would've been Vector. There were occasions when he caught sight of the winged Barian watching them from a distance, but he did that to everyone. He didn't quite feel threatened.

Time ticked by, and through all those years, the one Nasch truly felt closest to, aside from Merag, remained Durbe. While no one said anything specific about it, everyone knew that Durbe was next in line in power after Nasch and Merag, and Nasch always listened to Durbe's advice, whatever it might be. He did not always follow it, but he listened to it, and that could not be said for all of the others.

Other memories slipped into place, each where they belonged, of a long day when only Nasch and Durbe were together, the others all busy with their own projects, and their fingers wound around one another, hearts beating in tandem underneath their rocky exteriors. They learned of what it was like to bring pleasure to one another, and that it was not a wise idea to go out among others without some time to rest afterward.

No one asked how Vector knew what the signs of two Barians having made love to one another were. There were things that no one actually wanted to know.

But it was worth everything to know that they were that close to one another, and wished to be so for as long as they possibly could. Nasch had wanted to defend his world and his people from the moment he opened his eyes and he could not think of wanting anything else.

And so it would ever be.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 9: 1,191|| **story:** 9,985  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon. It also contains some of my headcanons about the Barian World and the power of the Barian Emperors.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Red across the sky. Blue and white pulsed inside of her, memories of another sky. She couldn't have said what sky it was; to call it a memory was to give it more than it deserved. A flicker of imagery, perhaps imagination, nothing more. But the blue and the white enfolded within her and she knew who she was: Merag, sister to Nasch. A Barian Emperor.

Or Empress; the term didn't matter. She was one of their leaders, her brother's right hand, the sword of ice.

Merag walked the world beside her brother, learning what he did, and learning other points as well. They were not the only Barians. They were the leaders, but there were others. She could not say if there were many of them, only that they outnumbered the two of them. But those Barians, those lesser Barians who were their servants and people, knelt to them and called them their king and queen, and Nasch would not turn away from those who needed him.

He never had. She'd needed him and he'd been with her, no matter the cost to himself. If anyone harmed her, Nasch put an end to them.

She did not know when this had happened. She only knew that it had, and that she would do the same for him.

She had done the same, once. Again, she did not know when. Only that it _had_.

And it happened here as well. Not all of those who lived in this world of scarlet and flame, shaking and silence, approved of this new arrival as their lord. One attempted to stab Nasch in the back.

For the first time, Merag found she could wield ice and cold. She stared at the long, sharp-edged blade that pierced the heart of the Barian who dared to raise a hand against her brother. For a single moment the foolish one stood where he was, eyes wide and round in shock, and then he faded away and was no more.

What happened to him next no one knew. No one had ever seen a Barian die, not to their recollection. But Merag did not care. He'd attempted to slay her brother. Whatever else, that meant death.

Power meant training. Power meant having to learn to control that power. Power meant learning more about herself and Nasch learning about himself as well.

By the time Durbe arrived, they knew more of themselves. No one else dared to attack Nasch. Word spread; their king and queen were very capable of taking care of themselves. No one wished to follow the example of that first one.

From the moment she saw Durbe and Nasch gazing at one another, Merag knew there was far more to the bond between them than liege and knight, fellow king to fellow king, Barian to Barian. The brush of hands, the pulse of the gems that gleamed on their bodies, the whisper of voices when they thought no one else could hear them. All of those wrote a tale that Merag could not help but believe was a continuing, not a beginning.

Such a tale both included her and did not. Their love was for them alone. But her friendship was theirs, and her protection when they needed it.

Not to mention all the amusing remarks she could make at other times. And she did make them. It was part of her job as a sister, she decided. Someone had to keep them in line and there wasn't anyone else suitable for the job.

Life grew both more complicated and simpler when the other Emperors began to arrive. She did not like Vector. She did not trust him. She didn't know if any of them did. For all that he seemed as loyal to their cause as any of them did, she still held a faint flicker of thought that he should be watched.

Watching Vector wasn't easy at all. He was as slippery as they came, able to slip away at a moment's notice and not return until he chose. But she watched when she could and protected her brother, as was her task. Durbe might be their shield, but a blade could defend and attack at the same time.

The others were much better to spend time with than Vector was, and she enjoyed doing so when there was time. Alit and Gilag sparred with one another frequently and watching them passed many an idle hour. Mizael was a skilled dueling opponent and training against him sharpened her own skills. He always found time to speak to her of dragons – a beloved topic with him – and she spoke with him of the half-whispers in her thoughts that might've been memories or dreams or perhaps even memories _of_ dreams.

He had no answers for her, but of them all, he considered her thoughts of Vector the most serious, and more than once they watched him together, though what he was doing, neither of them could figure out. Vector's ways remained mysterious to everyone, perhaps most of all to Vector himself.

Somewhere in those years, something happened. Merag knew that she didn't know what it was, only that it had been horrible and infuriating and when she found out what it was, she would exact the most terrible revenge that she could imagine on whoever did it. They'd brought pain to her brother and that she would not allow. Whoever it was, she would end them. She would _break_ them and make them weep in fear at the very thought of her name.

But now memories and reality welded themselves into one and together the three of them stood where they had in the hospital room. She blinked slowly, realizing as she did that she wasn't on the bed anymore. She stood next to Durbe and Nasch, her hands folded around the talisman with theirs, and she could _see them_.

Durbe caught the sound of her breath as she inhaled in shock and smiled at her. "Barians can heal quickly from almost anything short of death itself. With your power brought back to you, it healed your injuries."

She touched her fingers to her face, wondering. The doctors and nurses had spoken of her injuries and how they weren't certain of how well she would heal and how much of her sight she might retain. But now she saw as clearly as she ever had.

Durbe looked toward both of them now. "You are Nasch and Merag. Will you come with me to our world? We need you. Both of you."

Merag flicked her gaze toward Nasch, who stared at her as if every wish he'd ever had in his life had come true. With Durbe's question, she knew that she had no ties to this world that weren't her brother. She did want to find IV and speak to him about what happened in their duel. But aside from that…

"Yes," she said finally. "Yes, I'll go with you." She wanted to go home, to the friends she'd had for centuries and missed so very much.

Nasch raised his head, sea-blue eyes bright. "Let's go."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 10: 1,221|| **story:** 11,206  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Merag – Rio- she couldn't decide what to call herself at the moment – she looked down at herself, still clad in her hospital gown, her bandages all set aside, revealing nothing but clean, pink, healed skin. After the flush of memories from centuries in another world, it took some effort to remember that she wasn't made out of stone, not here.

"We need some excuse for what happened," she said, wishing that it _wasn't_ necessary. But the Barian World had to remain secret, at least for now, which meant telling the doctors and nurses in charge of her that she had been miraculously healed by powers from another world wasn't going to cut it.

Durbe smiled. "I can manage that. Do you want to take anything from here with you?"

"There are a few things," Nasch said, his gaze all on her. "But I don't want to cut all of our ties here." Something not quite a smile slipped over his features. She wasn't certain if she liked the expression, but she could understand it. "I still want to teach IV a few lessons."

"Of course." Durbe didn't so much as blink an eye. He never had where Nasch's desires were concerned, she recalled. "It will also be useful to have a presence here when the Astral Messenger arrives."

Yes, Merag definitely agreed on that. The desire to protect their rediscovered world burned bright and true inside of her. "We can both keep an eye on things here." She considered for a moment. "We might want to change schools, though."

"Why?"

"Because you're supposedly 'disgraced'." Her lip curled at the very thought. As if any of them could disgrace her brother. "It will be a chance to start fresh and no one at the new school will know what to expect from either of us."

Which meant if they needed to act differently for any reason, no one would notice it. The people at the school they were both enrolled in now would recognize certain changes. Better to put paid to that life and start a new one with less baggage.

"Right." Nasch straightened himself up, a kingly gleam to his eyes that had always been there, if a little muffled, she realized. "I'll go take care of things at home."

"And I'll take care of things here." Durbe turned toward the door. "This won't take long, Merag. I'll stay with you until Nasch returns."

Merag nodded; she wanted to get out of this hospital gown and into some real clothes. Or even better, get back to the Barian World and into her true form. She wasn't sure if what they wore here had any effect on that, and had to admit to herself she was a little curious to find out.

Then she suddenly got to her feet, before her brother and their friend had even made it all the way out the door. "I'm going with you, Durbe." She refused to sit here another moment, not when she was perfectly healthy and perfectly capable of going anywhere that she wanted to go.

Durbe didn't hesitate at this, either. "As you wish." After all, she was his queen as much as Durbe was his king. She did as she chose, within reason.

And it was with a queen's dignity that she walked down to the nurse's station and watched him catch the attention of one of the nurses there.

"Kamishiro Rio is perfectly healthy and should be discharged as soon as possible," Durbe said, a scarlet glow around his eyes. The nurse stared back at him, stiff and blank.

"Perfectly healthy," she repeated, hands clenching around a clipboard. "Should be discharged." She blinked, her blank expression trying to clear. "No, she's … she's been burned. It takes time -"

Merag stepped up, catching the woman's gaze with her own. It had been very, very long since she'd used her powers in any way at all, and she wasn't even certain if she could. But she wasn't going to let Durbe do all of the work.

"The burns weren't as bad as it was first though. You and the doctors have checked her over. She's perfectly healthy and ready to leave whenever she wishes."

She put every ounce of belief in what she said behind those words, because aside from having been checked over, they were absolutely true. She was healthy. She was ready to leave. She couldn't _wait_ to get out of there.

The nurse might've been able to resist one of them. Her will wasn't that weak. But two of them were too much for her to handle. Her head bent.

"I'll make all the arrangements." She moved away, reaching for the nearest computer.

Merag stepped back and looked at Durbe, who returned the gaze with pride.

"That was beautiful," he murmured. "I wouldn't have expected anything less from you."

One side of her mouth quirked upward but she said nothing at all, at least not to him. She looked back at the nurse, already working hard.

"We'll be in my room, for now." As much as she wanted out of here, she didn't want to push her luck when it came to brainwashing people, not with her powers so freshly restored.

If she'd had actual clothes, she would've waited somewhere else. _Anywhere_ else. That room wasn't anywhere she really wanted to be. She recalled her own room in the castle, a place of such wonderful beauty, and wondered if it had been kept clean while she was away. Even if it hadn't been, she wanted to see it far more than she did this place.

She didn't sit on the bed when they returned there, though. Instead she wandered over by the window and stared out of it at the small strip of greenery she could see below.

"What's it been like, without us?" Merag suspected Vector had been up to things without them there to keep a leash on him. A faint thought sparked through her mind, a memory of something she'd seen a few times over the centuries. "Did he ever… Mizael?"

Durbe breathed a weary sigh. "Yes." She could understand his reaction. Mizael was his best friend, after all.

"Remind me to get Mizael something to say I'm terribly sorry." It had been so long since the two of them had spoken to one another. But she thought she had a few ideas that might be useful in this situation.

"We've missed you. I searched throughout the world to find you from the day you vanished." Durbe came over to stand beside her, looking out as well. "We never knew what happened. Only that we woke up and you were gone."

Merag's fingers tightened into fists. "I don't remember, either. It's still a blank right at the end. Nasch and I were doing… something. I can't even remember what. But then we were children. Human children. And we didn't _remember_."

Her entire world gone. The life she'd built for herself in that world, the friendships she'd made, the goals she'd set and achieved, all of them gone as if they'd never been.

Someone was responsible for this. It couldn't have just happened. And when she found out who it was, she would freeze them until not even the fires of the sun could thaw them out.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 11: 1,129|| **story:** 12,335  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon).  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

It took an effort of will to think of himself as Kamishiro Ryouga as he stepped out of the hospital and onto the streets outside. He didn't _feel_ like Kamishiro Ryouga, not anymore. He felt like Nasch. He _was_ Nasch. This world wasn't his world. It was just a temporary stopping place, a possible future battleground.

He wouldn't like it. The people here had nothing to do with what was going on between his world and the Astral World. But here was where the war would end up being fought. He could feel it already.

Though if he were completely honest with himself, he wanted to protect Barian World more than he wanted to protect Earth. If that meant fighting on Earth, then so be it. This world could have other protectors. It would have to.

Besides, what had the people here ever done for him? The moment he wasn't their shining perfect example of a duelist, they all turned on him. Even now as he headed to his motorcycle, he could see some of them turning to look at him.

"Mommy, isn't that him?" One little kid, not old enough to know how to whisper. "What's he doing here?"

Ryouga didn't wait to find out what the answer was. Instead, he hurried along to his motorcycle and got it going. He wanted to get what few things he knew he and Rio wanted to keep with them and then head right to the Barian World. He missed it more than he'd thought, now that he knew about it again.

He missed everyone there more than he'd ever thought he would: except Vector. Being dedicated to their cause didn't mean that they had to like him, and Nasch made a point of not liking him. Everything about him scraped against Nasch's skin in the absolute worst ways.

Nasch put all thoughts of Vector out of his mind for the moment. He wished that he could just cut every tie to this world and never come back again, but that wasn't possible. Merag had been right; they needed this world too much right now.

But once they'd defeated the Astral messenger and had saved their world, and no longer needed Earth, then he wouldn't set foot here ever again. He'd do his best not to do it at all until he needed to.

He needed to know everything that had happened while he and Merag were gone. Durbe would be able to tell him all of that once they were on the way. Then they could reunite with everyone else.

The fact he didn't know how he and Merag had been sent to Earth still bothered him. It just didn't feel right. There was so much that they still didn't know. But he had no idea of how to find out any of that and there was still so much that he had to _do_ before he could even think about getting those answers.

Sooner than he'd thought he would be, he stood in their apartment. Already it didn't feel like home. It had, once upon a time. When he and Merag had lived in it together, with just an occasional visit from their family's… from the lawyer of the Kamishiros.

That was confusing all by itself. How had they ended up in the situation they had?

He shook his head slowly, rubbing his fingers over his temples. So many questions that they didn't have answers to and there was just no time to find the answers. It would all come in due time, he promised himself. First, the packing and moving.

Clothes weren't an issue. Except for the occasional cloak, Barians didn't need clothes and if they did, their own power could provide them. Human clothes certainly weren't necessary. Of course, leaving them behind would encourage the belief that they still lived here. It meant people wouldn't ask as many questions and he did not want to give them answers.

All in all, there wasn't that much that he did want to take. Pictures that came from before were left behind. Those weren't their parents. He didn't know whose parents they were, only that they weren't his and Merag's. He did pack up all of their extra cards and Merag's deck.

He didn't, however, bother with their D-Gazers. Those weren't going to be necessary. Already he could feel that power flowing through him, and it meant that they could see duels perfectly well without the devices. Granted, they had other uses, but he still didn't want them. He didn't need them. Barians had other ways to communicate with one another and he didn't feel like talking to anyone else.

When he picked up Merag's deck, there was an odd trace of heat there. It wasn't anything a human would have picked up, but with his power alive and aware once more, he could, and he did. He wasn't certain of what to think of it, only that the heat didn't feel right.

 _I'll ask Durbe about it,_ he decided, tucking the deck away where he wouldn't be bothered by it. It could very well just be the leftovers of whatever IV had used to hurt Merag.

The side of his mouth quirked up for a moment. He looked forward to seeing what his sister would end up doing to IV because of that, now that she was recovered. He would gladly have done it for her, but he'd learned a long time ago that when it came to her revenge, Merag liked to handle it personally.

It usually ended up freezing someone in a very large glacier: _if_ she felt generous. He doubted IV would like that very much and looked forward to seeing it.

He looked around again. There wasn't anything else he could think of that they'd want to bring with them. For all that they'd spent almost all of their lives that they could remember – at least as humans – there wasn't much to remember it all by.

Nasch shrugged and dismissed it all from his mind. This was a battleground for the war that was to come. It wasn't a home. All that had ever made it a home before was that his sister was there, and she would be with him as they returned to where they belonged. Coming here from now on would be little more than a disguise, a thin layer of humanity that he would find a way to cast off whenever he had the chance.

Barians weren't used to having mouths to have expressions with. But he'd been given his Shark nickname for a reason and it was with bared teeth and a savage heart that he headed back to the hospital to get Merag and Durbe and finally go home.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 12: 1,069|| **story:** 13,404  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Durbe had held onto the Barian pendant the whole time. He knew it belonged to Nasch and he would give it back to him, but for the last several years, it had been all that he'd had that was truly connected to Nasch and Merag. He hadn't even let Mizael know that he had it. No one else needed to know, he'd told himself. He would return it to his king when his king returned.

And now Nasch _had_ returned. He could hardly imagine the looks on the faces of all the others: especially Vector. Vector hadn't exactly been uncontrollable but he was deep in the depths of his own schemes and the return of Nasch would put some solid brakes on those in Durbe's opinion. Durbe trusted whatever ideas Nasch would have to settle the war far more than he did Vector's.

Or his own, for that matter.

He would have to tell Nasch about what had happened so far. There was so much that he needed to tell him that he didn't even know if he could remember it all. But he would try.

Soon enough, Nasch stepped back into the room, holding out a small bag toward Merag as soon as he was over the threshold.

"I almost didn't remember these," he half-muttered, eyes flicking more toward Durbe than Merag. Durbe kept his features straight, mostly because it was hard to remember how to move them unless he thought about it. Flesh was so different from stone.

Merag made an annoyed noise before vanishing into the bathroom to get changed. Nasch moved over to stand beside Durbe, the faintest hints of embarrassment written across his cheeks. Durbe said nothing at all. His deepest loyalty had always been to Nasch and that hadn't changed. It never would.

"Do I want to know what Vector's been doing while we were gone?" Nasch asked. Durbe found no surprise in the question. The sooner such lesser matters were dealt with, the sooner they could move on to war plans.

"About the same as usual. He and Mizael have spent some time together." Even without always remembering how human facial expressions worked, Durbe made a face at the thought. At least it had kept Vector out of trouble for a while. Mizael's sacrifice for their continued peace would not be forgotten.

Nasch twitched a fraction at that as well. "Anything else?"

"A great deal. But I think we should wait until we're back home for all of it." This place was full of humans and even though they wouldn't know what the three of them talked about, Durbe did not want to take too many chances.

He looked down at the emblem in his hands, then held it out toward Nasch. "This is yours, my king," he murmured. "It's done its purpose, for now at least."

Nasch took it, and at the touch of his fingers alone, the chain it once hung from appeared again. He looked at the shark tooth pendant he still wore, before he slipped it off, holding it in his other hand for a few moments.

Merag stepped out of the bathroom, running a comb through her hair. Her eyes fell on the shark pendant before rising up to look at her brother, one eyebrow sliding upward. Nasch looked back at her, then held the shark tooth toward her.

"Keep this for me," he said, dropping it into her outstretched hand. "I don't need it now."

Merag's lips pressed together for a moment, but she said nothing against it, tucking the pendant away into a pocket while Nasch hung the Barian emblem around his neck.

"Let's get out of here," the Barian King declared, turning for the door. Durbe fell into place behind him, Merag on the other side. None of them gave so much as a look to the room where Merag had spent the last several months of her life.

Durbe could not have been any happier if he'd actually set out to be. He'd not only found Merag and Nasch, but restored as much of their memories as he could at the moment, and they were on the way home. Everyone else would be thrilled to see them, possibly even Vector.

Well, maybe Vector. He'd been planning things and Nasch would have to give his approval for the plans to keep going at this point. Durbe had his own plans, and Nasch would have to approve those as well. There would have to be a lot of discussion about what had happened during their absence. Nasch would probably have plans of his own to put into action sooner or later, and when the Astral Emissary finally arrived, who knew how things would change. Durbe knew one fact of war very well: plans seldom survived the first encounter with an enemy.

It took little time at all to settle the last bits of their human lives, clearing through everything with the people at the hospital. Durbe managed that, making certain that none of the medical officials would come looking for Merag to find out how she'd healed so fast. Though if they did, it would be almost impossible to find the Kamishiro twins after this. Change of address forms didn't include 'the Barian World'.

Then it was out of the hospital and to the nearest alleyway where no one would see what was going to happen next. Durbe held his hands out to Nasch and Merag and once the three were linked, he called up the portal.

On the other side rose the Barian World, scarlet towers in every direction as far as the eye could see, spheres of varying size that rose and fell, and in the center, a place that hadn't felt like a proper home for years, until this moment: Nasch's palace.

Durbe settled them down there and took a long look at them. For the first time in far too long, he saw his king and queen. Nasch's familiar amethyst-violet skin had never looked so beautiful, and he held himself with all the regal pride of the king that he was. Merag glimmered like ice, tall and imperial, a warrior ready to defend her king with any tool at her disposal.

"Welcome home, Nasch, Merag," he murmured. "I'll call the others." He _so_ looked forward to seeing their reactions to Nasch and Merag having come home at long last.

Especially Vector's.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 13: 1,834|| **story:** 15,238  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Alit had a lot of ways that he liked to spend his time. Most of them involved hitting things that weren't necessarily capable of hitting him back. He preferred it when they did, which was why he spent his time sparring with some of the other Barians. Mizael was always good for a few rounds, even if he protested that he didn't have the time to waste on Alit's uselessness. That generally only lasted until Alit could needle him into doing something, which never took very long.

Gilag was good for a few rounds as well, and he could soak up Alit's best punches like they were nothing at all. _That_ thoroughly pleased Alit, since there were few enough who could do that.

But one way that he didn't like to spend time was sitting around in meetings. It wasn't like they could really _do_ anything until either the Astral Messenger arrived or Nasch and Merag returned. He kind of wanted the latter to happen; nothing had really felt right around the Barian World with them gone. Vector kept slinking around giggling and that just made Alit want to punch _him_.

Unfortunately, Durbe wouldn't let him punch Vector, saying something about them all being on the same side, and they weren't supposed to do that kind of thing.

 _I guess he's right._ That in no way meant that he liked the idea of not punching Vector. Getting in a good swift hit on the giggling idiot filled at least some of Alit's daily quote of fantasies.

At any rate, now he lounged back on his favorite rock, waiting for whatever it was Durbe wanted to talk to them all about. And they were _all_ there, Gilag and Mizael and even Vector, who looked rather annoyed to be there.

Maybe meetings weren't so bad after all if Vector got annoyed by them. Alit would take what he could get when it came to annoying Vector.

"When is Durbe going to get here?" Alit grumbled at last, his stock of patience starting to run out. The message had been clear: everyone needed to gather at Nasch's throne and be ready for an important announcement, the most important they'd had in years.

Maybe the Astral Messenger had finally turned up. Alit liked the thought of that; it would mean they could finally start _doing_ something.

He kind of hoped that Merag and Nasch had turned up, though. No one still had any ideas on what had happened to them and the idea that their king and queen could be taken out like that sent chills even through Alit's stone body.

"Soon," Mizael said, though he didn't seem to be reassuring. More annoyed. But that was Mizael all over anyway. Everyone who wasn't Durbe annoyed him.

Vector let out one of his raucous laughs. "Maybe he's gotten lost along the way?"

"Oh, shut it, Vector," Alit snapped, clenching a fist. Maybe he'd actually get to fulfill one of his fantasies and punch him after all.

Vector didn't have a chance to say anything else, since at that moment a ripple of energy flowed through the area, and Durbe stepped out of a portal.

"Well, what took you so long?" Vector shifted his attention to Durbe the moment that he stood there. "And this had better be important. I had plans, you know!"

Durbe waved one hand. "It is. I have the best news that I could have."

Alit bounced up to his feet. "So what is it?" He wanted it to be good. He wanted to hit something hard so much.

"It's us." A voice that hadn't been heard in the Barian World for years spoke. Everyone who wasn't Durbe turned to look at the throne, where two figures stood who also hadn't been seen in years. Alit's jaw would've dropped, if he had a jaw to start with.

"Nasch?" He almost whispered the word, the second one following just as lightly. "Merag?"

There they were, Nasch seated on his throne, Merag standing beside him, just as they always had, as if the last few years hadn't happened at all.

"I found them," Durbe said, shoulders high with pride and eyes bright with success.

Mizael eyed them cautiously, arms folded over his chest, a defiant tilt to his head. "Where were they, then?" Then he shook his head and addressed Nasch and Merag directly. "Where were you? What happened?"

Alit nodded as well. "Who did… whatever it was to you?" No matter how long they'd searched, every clue they had sputtered out in the end. It set them all on edge, day after day. Even Vector had seemed bothered by it. Probably because he worried whoever could take them out could do the same thing to him.

"That, we don't know." Nasch rose up from his throne, the same king that he'd always been. "But we were on Earth."

Alit blinked and tilted his head a bit. "What were you doing _there_?" He knew about Earth; they all did, though the Astral World kept most of their attention. He couldn't duel to his full potential on Earth, so he hadn't even bothered to give it a second thought.

"Living as humans," Merag replied, that familiar amused tilt to her head. "We didn't even remember being Barians. Something happened that made us children while we were there."

Nasch picked up the tale, such as it was. "Durbe found us not that long ago and helped us recover our memories." He reached out one violet hand and flexed his fingers, as if he were still getting used to them being what they were. The idea of either of them being uncomfortable in their own skin amazed Alit, and unsettled him at the same time.

"But now that we've returned, we are going to find out who did this, as well as make certain our world is safe," Merag declared. "Since we have a foot in both worlds now, we're going to visit Earth on occasion to keep an eye out for the Astral Messenger."

Alit could see the sense in that, now that they'd said it. The Astral people couldn't come to Barian World without sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb. So they would probably pick Earth as their battleground. Too bad for the humans there.

"I've already been making plans to deal with the Messenger," Vector said, a thread of petulance in his voice. "What about those?"

Nasch and Merag both looked down at him. "Oh, we want to hear all about your plans, Vector," Nasch said. "Do tell us."

* * *

Gilag hadn't completely wrapped his mind around the concept that Nasch and Merag had returned. He could see them there, just as they always had been, Nasch on his throne and Merag at his right hand, but it was hard for him to truly believe it.

He wanted to. He'd missed them as much as Alit or Mizael had – no one missed them as much as Durbe did – but to see them there after years of not having been there was hard to completely accept.

 _They were on Earth._ He'd never even thought to look there. None of them had, except Durbe, apparently. But it wasn't often that Barians died or vanished in the first place, and why would they have ever thought of Earth as a place they could go?

Maybe it had something to do with how they'd died? He didn't know; he had many skills, but figuring out the nature of reality and the afterlife wasn't among them.

Vector now slipped forward, hands spread to indicate absolute innocence. Gilag doubted there was anyone there who believed in that innocent. This was _Vector_.

"I have been keeping an eye on some humans. We encountered two of them not that long ago."

Durbe nodded; Gilag remembered that himself. He and Alit hadn't been part of that, but he knew what Durbe had done.

"One of them fell into this world," Durbe picked up the story. "He wasn't in very good condition."

Vector let out one of his trademark laughs. "But I fixed him! He needed power to survive and he wanted power to exact revenge on the one who'd sent him here." He rubbed his hands together, eyes glinting in delight. "So I gave him that power." He tapped his fingers against the side of his face. "What was his name again… I don't remember what he called himself when he got here, but when he left, he was calling himself Tron."

Nasch nodded ever so slightly. "What else?"

"Oh, I don't know." Vector's shoulders rose and fell in a quick shrug. "I've been keeping an eye on him. He's pretty interesting, really. But the other one is the one I'm really having fun with."

"You mean Dr. Faker." Gilag spoke up. "The one who runs that city on Earth."

"Yes, that one," Vector said. He gave a penetrating look to Gilag, who ignored it. He'd never once cared about Vector's opinion and the return of Nasch and Merag did not change that.

Nasch frowned, leaning forward. "What city?" Gilag understood his interest; wherever the power of the Barians rested, that was where they would have to focus their attention. If he'd spent time on Earth, then this could be a place that he knew.

"Heartland, I believe it is." Vector waved one hand airily. "He has a sick child and our power can sustain him and heal him." The look that gleamed in those eyes of his wasn't one Gilag would've wanted turned toward him, no matter how little he cared about Vector. "And while we're keeping his kid alive, Faker will do anything that we want him to do. Such as being useful when the Astral Messenger arrives."

Nasch's gaze flicked up to Merag, who looked back him with the same worry mirrored in her gaze. Then Nasch looked back toward them. "What else has been going on?"

"Well, Mizael and I -" Vector started, only for Merag to shake her head right away.

"Not that kind of news. Anything _useful_."

Barians couldn't blush; their skin wasn't suited for it. But Gilag kind of thought that if he could have, Mizael would've been, just a little. But he still stood his ground, ignoring Vector altogether.

"Other than that, there hasn't been very much going on. We've spent most of our time looking for the two of you and keeping things quiet around here," Mizael said.

"What do you want us to do, Nasch?" Gilag wanted to know. The more he watched them, the more used he became to the idea of them being back, and the more he looked forward to events moving the way that they should.

Nasch turned his gaze on all of them. "For now, I'll want to check out these two humans myself. Until then, there's nothing else that needs to be done for now."

Gilag wasn't surprised. Nasch didn't jump headfirst into things. It was good to have them back.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 14: 1,113|| **story:** 16,351  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Before they'd vanished, Mizael hadn't given that much thought to Nasch and Merag. They ruled the Barian World. They called the shots for all of the Barian Emperors. That was what they were, and he listened to them, because what they said made sense. Infinitely more sense than anything that Vector said, but that wasn't difficult at all. He always believed that what they did was for the genuine good of the Barian World. Vector's plans might've done good for the world, but they also included good for him as a major goal.

Interacting more with Vector during their absence only solidified all of his beliefs on that score. Nothing Vector did would hurt the Barian World; if anything, it would help them once the Astral Messenger made his long-delayed appearance. But at the same time, Vector took such a thrill in hurting other people, be they human or not, that Mizael found himself somewhat revolted.

Which all boiled down to one thing at this point: he'd never been so glad that Merag and Nasch had returned and he planned to find some way to do something for Durbe that would express his joy at his companion's success. They could do something that either wasn't Vector's plan at all – Mizael wasn't all that thrilled by the use of other beings the way that Vector was – or at least refine it so that it suited being a proud warrior of Barian instead of whatever it was that Vector was.

"You look like you have something on your mind," Durbe said, catching Mizael out of his private spiral of thoughts.

Mizael shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't, but that it wasn't very important, not in the larger scheme of things at the moment. "How did you find them?" That was far more interesting to his way of thinking.

"Sheer luck," Durbe replied, a smile brightening his eyes. "I attended a tournament and Nasch happened to be one of the participants. He caught my attention and I followed my instincts."

That didn't surprise Mizael at all, not a word of it from the first to the last. But the tournament itself did tug at his own attention. "What are human duelists like?" They weren't nearly as good as Barians. Mizael didn't expect that they would be. But would Nasch's style be affected by his time as a human? He would still be a sharp, killer duelist. Mizael didn't doubt that; he wouldn't be Nasch if he wasn't. But what _could_ have changed?

"Not like us," Durbe observed after a moment of thought. "But there are a few who could be, if they needed to be."

Mizael sniffed; he found that a bit on the unlikely side. Barians were so far above humans that only the strongest of humans could come close to the weakest of Barians. At least that was _his_ opinion on the matter. He had yet to see a human who could come close to him, much less one that had anything that approached the terrifying power of Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon.

Perhaps he would pay a visit to his beloved dragon shortly. It had been too long. And with Nasch and Merag there, Vector would be too busy being furious to want to come and pester him.

If he regretted anything in his long life, spending even the handful of times in intimate company with Vector ranked high upon the list. It kept Vector from having the free time to run off and do all the myriad of annoying things that Vector liked to do, such as find stray humans in their world and twist their minds and souls.

Granted, a human would've needed the power of Barian to survive in this world at all, let alone to return to Earth so he could do whatever it was he wished to do to achieve his revenge. But the way Vector spoke of his plans made it obvious he intended to set these people against one another and reap the rewards that would follow, whatsoever those might be.

As long as those benefited Barian World in the long run, Mizael wouldn't protest them, though. He didn't like Vector. Being intimate with him didn't change that on more than the most basic of levels. But Vector was still a Barian Emperor, just like he was, and that meant they had to work together.

All of that passed through Mizael's mind in a matter of heartbeats. He turned his full attention back toward Durbe, but before he could say anything else, Nasch stood before him.

"I understand that you know more about Vector than before," Nasch said. Mizael shrugged, a quick twitching of his shoulders more than anything else.

"Nothing you'd be interested in." The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his intimate life with his _king_. He'd rather not talk about it at all if he had the option on it.

Nasch shook his head. "That isn't exactly what I meant, but I think it could be useful. We need to know what he's been planning that he's not talking to us about. Is there anything you know that he failed to mention?"

Mizael could think of several things, but none of them would be useful toward the salvation of the Barian World. "Not at the moment." He could see what Nasch wanted of him, though. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together, and he did not like the implications at all.

"If he does let you know anything, I want you to let _us_ know," Nasch said, exactly as Mizael suspected he would. "We lived in Heartland when we were human." He gestured to himself and Merag. "Knowing what he has in mind and putting it together with what we know could help us bring the war to an end that much sooner once it starts."

Mizael couldn't disagree on that. Even if it meant spending more time with Vector that he wanted to. At least it wasn't necessarily _intimate_ time.

"I'll see what I can find out." Even with that caveat of spending time around Vector, he knew this meant that Nasch trusted him, that he'd been assigned something very important, something that Nasch couldn't or didn't trust anyone else, not even Durbe, with.

Nasch nodded, his fierce warrior's eyes meeting Mizael's. "Good luck."

Mizael nodded back. This hadn't at all been how he'd envisioned the return of their king, but Nasch had not changed. He still looked out for his people, no matter what he had to do. There were worse people in any number of worlds than him, and not that many who were better.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandoms:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Series Title:** Hating Humanity  
 **Title:** To Find The Lost Ones  
 **Characters:** Ryouga, Rio, Durbe  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter 15: 1,290|| **story:** 17,641  
 **Genre:** Drama, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the Advent Calendar 2015, day #12, write a gift-fic (this is for SilvorMoon)  
 **Notes:** This begins shortly before the duel between IV  & Ryouga, pre-canon.  
 **Summary:** Durbe wanted to find Nasch so much that he made his way to Earth far sooner than expected. What he did not expect was to run across Kamishiro Ryouga at the worst time of his life.

* * *

Vector said nothing at all as he stalked out of the palace. He wanted it to be _his_ palace, _his_ place to rule from. He'd been making plans for that for years. Centuries, even. It had taken that long just for Nasch to score all the proper points.

 _I had it done! I just needed to get rid of the Astral Messenger and it would've all been mine!_ Once he'd solidified the safety of the Barian World, and disposed of anyone who might so much as lift their voice in opposition to him – which was almost all of the other Barian Emperors – then he would've been the one and only ruler of the world.

He'd had it all _ready_. Playing the Arclights and Faker's family against one another would've made it absolute perfection.

And then _this_ had to happen. Durbe had to go and _find Nasch_. For that matter, Nasch and Merag had to have the absolute, infuriating gall to actually not be dead.

That annoyed him almost as much as the fact his plans were now more in flux than they should be. Perhaps even more, really. He'd gone to a great deal of trouble to kill them both. More than just trouble, he'd actually been _hurt_ doing so. Taking Nasch and Merag out had put him out of commission for weeks back then. He'd only been lucky that no one had wanted to see him during that time. He might've had to answer questions that he didn't want to.

 _I am going to kill them again if I have to. And if they come back to life on Earth again, I'll go there and kill them_ _ **again**_ _._

He would kill them as many times as he needed to in order to keep them out of his way. Why couldn't they just _stay_ out of his way to begin with? It would make it so much better for everyone. He wouldn't have to waste his time killing them all the time and they wouldn't get killed at all. It would make _everyone's_ life that much better.

"But that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" he growled under his breath as he stalked his way back to his own personal stomping grounds. All of the Barians had their own area where they theoretically ruled supreme. At least unless _Nasch_ was around. He supposedly ruled over them all, even in their private domains, if he chose to visit there.

Not that his High and Mighty Majesty had ever dared to set foot on Vector's personal soil. If he ever _did_ , Vector had plans for what to do with him that would be far worse than just killing. Probably far more satisfying too, since Vector ached to tear that horrible pride of Nasch's away and shatter it into far more pieces than could ever conveniently be counted.

In point of fact, the only Barian that Vector allowed in his territory was Mizael, and only for one very specific reason, and only when Vector issued the invitation himself. As much as he found pleasure in Mizael's company – within reason – he wasn't going to let the golden Barian get that close to him. He didn't want _anyone_ that close to him.

As he'd learned just from watching Durbe, Nasch, and Merag, having people close to one meant that one had weaknesses. He'd thoroughly enjoyed using Merag against Nasch far too much to let anyone try that on him.

Besides, he enjoyed Mizael's company for purely base reasons. They brought each other physical pleasure, and he had a certain amount of emotional delight in breaking down Mizael's own pride with what they did together. There wasn't anything beyond that involved.

 _But there could be._ Not something in the sense that Nasch and Durbe would have involved, something about _caring_ for other people. That was just the way to weakness. No, there would be other ways to use Mizael, aside from what Vector already found him useful for. _Mizael is close to them. He and Durbe are 'friends'._ Vector rolled his eyes at the thought. But it also offered that chance, and he wasn't one to turn down a chance, no matter how far-fetched it might be.

It would take some time to get it properly working. Mizael was noble enough not to want to hurt his 'king' and he hadn't yet figured out that Vector was the proper ruler of the Barian World anyway.

 _I can be very persuasive, though._ And oh, how he would enjoy persuading Mizael. Not only that, but it would be so very sweet to watch Durbe try to pull Mizael away from him and fail. Vector never stopped until he got what he wanted, no matter what he had to do in order to get it. Sometimes he had to take tricky routes to get it, but he always got it in the end.

That included killing Nasch and Merag and keeping them dead. Maybe next time he'd take out Durbe while he was at it. If he'd done that last time, then the _now_ of them returning wouldn't be happening at all.

That was a plan, he decided. He would get rid of Nasch, Merag, and Durbe, find something useful to do with Gilag and Alit, and persuade Mizael to accept him as more than a casual and infrequent intimate partner. It might even take until after he'd dealt with the Astral Messenger, but once all that had been taken care of, he'd have it all in the palm of his hand.

 _This is just a setback,_ Vector told himself, stretching out on one of his favorite rocks. _And not much of one._ He flipped over after only a few moments, his mind racing to make certain he'd covered every possibility. So far none of his schemes had reached a point where anyone could tell that they were meant more for his satisfaction than anything else.

Of course, they were still meant to do good for the Barian World. He _wanted_ the Barian World to survive and thrive. He just thought that above all else, he should be the one in charge of it. What good had Nasch ever done for it? Why was he the one considered their leader and king, when Vector was every bit as good at it, if not better, than he could ever hope to be?

 _If I can kill Nasch, then whatever is Nasch's is mine._ That had been the philosophy that he'd lived by for longer than he could properly recall. So far as he was concerned, nothing had happened to change that. He had killed Nasch and Merag both. So what if they'd come back, and now they were back _here_? That didn't change anything except make it so that he had to do it all over again, plus one extra.

Or three extra. If the only way Gilag and Alit could be made useful would be to dead, then he had no problems in finishing them off as well. Mizael either, if it came to that. His pretty Miza-chan was very pretty and very useful and very sweet when Vector wanted him to be, but in the end, Vector could find a bedmate wherever he wanted one, especially once he ruled all of Barian World.

But that would take time. And with the two lost Barians returned, he might not have as much time as he'd hoped.

 _I'll still do it. I wonder if I should try the human world for myself._ It would be annoying, but it could be useful if the war would take place there. The more he knew of it, the better.

Always something to do. _So the sooner I get started on it, the better._

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


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